Telephone answering systems in general are well known to the art. Such systems respond to an incoming telephone ring signal to transmit a recorded announcement to a calling party during a first time interval T-1, and then automatically to enter a message recording mode during a second time interval T-2 during which a message from the calling party is recorded.
The telephone answering system of the present invention includes an automatic ring delay circuit which sets the system so that the first call received after the system has been turned on requires a greater number of rings than subsequent calls. This means that the user can turn the system on while he is present, and so long as he answers his calls before the predetermined number of rings, the system will not answer or record the calls. However, if the user so desires, even when present, he can permit the predetermined number of rings to occur for an incoming call, so that the system will answer and record the call. Then, the system automatically sets itself so that for all subsequent calls, it requires a lesser number of rings.
While the user is present, he would usually turn off the system, or he would answer the telephone before the predetermined number of rings occurred, so that the system normally would remain set to the higher number of rings, before it became effective. Then, should the user leave the office, he need not make any adjustments to the system, and in his absence, the system will automatically set itself, after the first call, to answer all subsequent calls on a fewer number of rings, so as to avoid any likelihood of the calling party hanging up before the instrument answers.
The telephone answering system of the invention also includes an improved and simplified "beep" generating circuit, which is effective to transmit a short beep tone to the calling party at the end of the T-1 announcement interval, to inform the calling party that the system is now ready for his message. A simplified oscillator circuit is provided which is excited for a brief moment by the charge on a capacitor, the charge being acquired by the capacitor during the T-1 announcement interval.